dognovel Chapter 5: Renting a Shop, Creating a "Fairyland"
Chapter 5: Renting a Shop, Creating a "Fairyland"
Well... how should I put it? The dough for the meat bun was very hard, and the meat filling had a faint fishy smell, so it wasn't really delicious.
Adhering to the principle of not wasting food, she finally managed to finish the meal. She then wrapped the remaining vegetable bun tightly in a lotus leaf and put it back in her pocket, as she needed to save room for other dishes later.
As she walked around asking questions, she gained a general understanding of the basic prices.
Well, the system didn't cheat her; the price it gave was similar to the prices here, but the quality of the goods was completely incomparable.
After walking for a while, Bai Mengran felt a bit thirsty and noticed a tea shop not far ahead.
Once inside, I found that the shop didn't sell many items, only tea, mung bean soup, and plum juice.
She spent three coins to buy a bowl of plum juice. Perhaps because they were stingy with the ingredients, the taste was very bland, and she could hardly taste the sweetness, but it was thirst-quenching.
Bai Mengran was thinking how wonderful it would be to have an iced milk tea right now!
This further strengthened her resolve to unlock the milk tea shop as soon as possible, and she is now extremely confident that it will be a huge success!
Without investigation, there is no right to speak. Bai Mengran visited various food stalls and shops on the street and found that the same items were priced much higher in shops than at stalls, not to mention in large restaurants.
After learning about the market, she felt that her pricing was a bit too low.
After all, the food she sells is unique in this area, so it's not unreasonable to set a high price.
However, Bai Mengran still decided to start selling at twice the cost price, not for any other reason than that she wanted more people to be able to enjoy those delicacies.
Seeing that it was getting late, almost lunchtime, Bai Mengran, remembering that the shop matter hadn't been resolved, decided to go to the brokerage firm.
I asked at a brokerage firm and found out that the cheapest shops here start at 20 taels of silver, and that's for those small shops in bad locations.
However, if she were to rent, she would only need to rent a small shop, with a rent of about 500 wen to 1 tael of silver per month.
Considering that she couldn't afford to buy a shop right now, Bai Mengran decided to rent one first and buy it later when she had more money.
So she found a broker to show her several shops that were available for rent, and finally settled on the one at the very end of Huanxi Street.
Because of its location in the back, the shop has been unable to be rented out, so the rent has been constantly lowered to 600 yuan per month, with a minimum lease term of three months.
After reviewing it, Bai Mengran immediately decided that this was the one.
The storefront doesn't look very big, but the interior is about ten meters deep, which basically meets the storefront requirements mentioned by the system.
Moreover, there is a large open space next to the shop, and a mountain not far away, making it seem like a paradise.
Her space was inexplicable to begin with, so Bai Mengran was already thinking that she would have to come up with some mysterious explanation when the time came.
She went to the yamen with the broker to sign the contract and paid three months' rent, totaling 1 tael and 800 cash. The shop was then hers to use.
"System, system, I've chosen a shop! Can you see it?" Bai Mengran went straight to the shop after getting the key.
[I see you're the host, good taste! Next up is the decoration. You can choose from basic, medium, luxury, or random decoration options in the system shop.]
The screen displayed the costs corresponding to different renovations: 500, 1000, 1500, and 700 system coins.
"Sir, what does 'random' mean?"
She doesn't plan to spend too much money on decorating the rented shop.
"Random decoration is similar to opening a blind box. In addition to randomly selecting from three decoration levels, you may also trigger a minimalist decoration or a very rare custom decoration," the system explained.
Seeing that the random renovation wasn't much more expensive than the basic renovation, Bai Mengran still preferred the random one. She'd take a gamble; maybe she'd turn a bicycle into a motorcycle!
[Host, please name the store and select a model.]
"Let's call it 'Fairyland'! Let's create an ancient version of the Peach Blossom Spring."
In order to create momentum for her space, we can only associate with the various gods and immortals in heaven.
"Yes, host. This name sounds nice, and I like it very much too." The system happily agreed.
After deciding on the name, Bai Mengran opened the shop that had already been generated on the map and selected "random decoration".
You will be redirected to the payment interface. Since your system currency balance is currently 0, a money deposit box will appear on the screen, prompting you to put the money into the box.
Bai Mengran first picked up a piece of broken silver to test the waters. As soon as she placed it in the designated spot, the broken silver was instantly absorbed, and the balance immediately showed as 100.
So she did the same thing again, adding six small pieces of silver. Once the balance reached 700, the payment was automatically completed.
[Payment successful! Random renovation in progress, countdown 00:10:00.]
The shop was surrounded the next second, and Bai Mengran was instantly "invited" out.
She was ejected outside the shop.
Bai Mengran: "..."
Fortunately, there was no one around, otherwise, seeing a "living person falling from the sky" would probably give someone a heart attack.
[Host, to make things more surprising, you are not allowed to enter during the renovation period. You may come back to inspect in ten minutes.]
The system quickly provided an explanation.
"Alright, I'll go find a restaurant to have lunch first, and then come back to check it out."
In fact, Bai Mengran had already inquired about the most famous restaurant in the vicinity while she was shopping earlier. The most famous restaurant in the area is called Hongfu Restaurant.
It is said that this restaurant has a wide variety of dishes and attentive service, and many wealthy young men and women are regular customers.
Since we're here, we should definitely try the most famous local dishes. So Bai Mengran had already decided to go to this restaurant for lunch.
Following the map navigation, I finally arrived at the restaurant entrance. The bustling atmosphere around the restaurant was a stark contrast to the deserted area near her shop.
Hongfu Restaurant is located at the intersection of two streets in Taoyuan Town, adjacent to Wanlu Academy.
The restaurant was only a hundred or so feet from the dock. Dockworkers would occasionally go to the restaurant for a treat after receiving their wages, and some passing caravans would also patronize it from time to time.
The waiter at the restaurant immediately put on a smile when he saw Bai Mengran, who was dressed elegantly.
"Would you like to dine, young lady? Please come in quickly!"
He then led Bai Mengran to a private booth by the window on the first floor and quickly set out chopsticks and bowls.
"What would you like to eat, sir?"
"A pot of good tea, and a few of your restaurant's signature dishes," Bai Mengran ordered, mimicking how she does in period dramas.
"Alright, please wait a moment, sir!" The waiter scurried off to the kitchen.
The tea was served shortly afterward.
The waiter poured her a cup of tea and then left.
Bai Mengran took a sip; the tea was fragrant, flavorful, and beautifully presented—truly a fine tea.
With nothing else to do, she checked the store's renovation progress on the system and found that it was already completed.
"Huh? Tongzi, why didn't you let me know the renovations were finished?"
[I did notify you, but the host was in a hurry and focused on food, so he didn't pay any attention to me...]
The system felt wronged.
"..." After realizing that this was indeed her style, Bai Mengran comforted the system in a conciliatory manner, "Okay, okay, baby, it's my fault. So, I guess I've completed this task now?"
Milk Tea, here she comes!